David Russell (guitarist)

For other people named David Russell, see David Russell (disambiguation).

David Russell (born in 1953 in Glasgow) is a classical guitarist.

Biography

When Russell was five years of age, his family moved from Glasgow to Minorca, where he became interested in the guitar, imitating the likes of Andrés Segovia and Julian Bream.

Today, Russell resides in Galicia, but spends most of his time touring, appearing in such cities as New York, London, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Madrid, Toronto, Amsterdam, and Denver. He is regularly invited to play in music festivals.

David has won amateur golf tournaments, mainly in Scotland and Spain. He is an avid supporter of his local football team, Celta de Vigo.

Honours and awards

During his studies at the Royal Academy, Russell won the Julian Bream Guitar Prize twice and received a scholarship from the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust. Later he won numerous international competitions, including the Andrés Segovia Competition, the José Ramírez Competition, and Spain's Francisco Tárrega Competition.

Russell was named a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1997.

In May 2003 he was awarded the honour of being made "adopted son" of Es Migjorn, the town on Minorca where he grew up.

In November 2003 he was given the Medal of Honour of the Conservatory of the Balearics.

In 2004, he won a Grammy Award for best instrumental soloist in classical music for his CD Aire Latino.

Discography

Since 1995, Russell has had a contract with Telarc International. He has recorded a CD featuring the music of Paraguayan guitarist-composer Agustín Barrios Mangoré; another with the music of Spanish composer Federico Moreno Torroba; a recording including the three Rodrigo concerti for solo guitar (Concierto de Aranjuez, Fantasía para un Gentilhombre and Concierto para una Fiesta); Celtic Music for Guitar, Music by Giuliani, Baroque Music, Spanish Favorites, David Russell plays Bach, Aire Latino ( dedicated to music written by Latin American composers), Spanish Legends, and his most recent, Art of the Guitar.

His discography includes transcriptions of Bach, Handel, and Scarlatti on his album Nineteenth Century Music, and the complete works of Francisco Tárrega on Opera Tres.

Teaching

David Russell recommends using a metronome.^[1] When asked about practice he has said: Metronome is good for making sure you are doing it right, for controlling tempo, etc. but then you have to be able to have good rhythm without metronome.^[2]

References

1. ^ David Russell. "David Russell's tip of the season – Spring 2004". http://www.davidrussellguitar.com/tip-data/tip-spring-2004.htm. 
2. ^ David Russell. "Practicing as a young musician". http://www.guitarfoundation.org/drupal/node/3941. 

External links

• Official Website
• David Russell's YouTube Page
• Photos of Masterclass (Ligita 2005)
• Photos of Concert (Ligita 2005)
• Some photos of LP covers (Oviatt Library Digital Collections)

Persondata
Name	Russell, David
Alternative names
Short description	Classical guitarist
Date of birth	1953
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death